How New Zealand businesses are improving staff well-being with new tools
Modern employees are interested in more than just good compensation. Sure, a nice salary, bonuses, and equity are crucial for attracting and retaining top talent. However, if your organisation does not take the necessary steps to support employee wellness and deliver a good work-life balance, chances are you’ll struggle to maintain your best people.
The good news is that there are lots of tools available to support employee wellbeing and enhance their experience at your workplace. Many organisations across New Zealand and other parts of the world are already adopting these tools.
What tools are these exactly?
Well, here is how New Zealand businesses are transforming the employee experience and the tools they use.
1. Improving working space with Smart Tech
More organisations are implementing return-to-office plans. But employers are doing this gradually. Most companies started by asking employees to come to the office for only a few days of the week, for example.
As that is happening, companies are also upgrading their workspaces to create environments that support employee well-being. For example, 2degrees was among the first companies from New Zealand to get a platinum-level designation after renovating its offices to improve employee well-being.
But what exactly can you do to your office space to make it healthier for your team?
Noise-cancelling panels are a good place to start. These reduce noise pollution and create a calmer office space. Smart lighting systems are also a good investment. The systems adjust the light brightness and colour temperature based on the time of day and the natural light entering your office. It prevents eye strain and makes sure your employees can stay focused.
Installation of vape detectors is another thing you can do to enhance your office space. These detectors monitor the air quality in your office and can integrate with your HVAC system to activate air filtration and circulation when harmful particles and volatile organic compounds (VOCs) are detected.
2. Creating wellness challenges with Yumuuv
One of the best ways to encourage physical activity and mental well-being within your workforce is through wellness challenges. The benefits don’t stop there either.
The best challenges are also super interactive. This encourages participation across the entire organisation. It also drives employee engagement, which is critical for a thriving workforce.
Yumuuv is one of the digital tools you can use to create wellness challenges. The platform allows organisations to pick from their 17 pre-defined challenges. The challenges are also very diverse, so you can use them to encourage physical activities, better sleep, meditation, and so on.
Here’s a list of some of the challenges you can pick from:
- Yoga challenge
- Running challenge
- Mindfulness challenge
- Sleep challenge
- Step challenge
- Plank challenge
Beyond the pre-defined challenges, you can create a custom challenge where you decide the activity and nature of the challenge. This is a great option for any organisation that wants to create a challenge that aligns with their unique company culture.
The solution is available in a mobile app. It also provides detailed analytics you can use to track overall team performance and zero in on specific employees who might be getting disengaged.
3. Providing mental health training through Headversity
According to a report by the American Psychological Association, 92% of employees say that working at an organisation that values emotional and psychological well-being is very or somewhat important to them. It’s no wonder that companies in most parts of the world, including New Zealand, are now creating budgets dedicated to boosting their employees’ mental health and overall well-being.
While there are many ways to boost mental health, the use of online tools like Headversity is proving to be very effective.
Headversity is a solution that provides proactive mental health training to employees to help them build resilience, encourage their well-being, and promote psychological safety.
The platform offers three programs, starting with a personalised Solo training program. This program is tailored to each employee’s needs. It delivers continuous training that adapts to the employee’s changing needs. It is designed to build mental resilience and drive engagement.
Then there’s the Team program, where an entire team learns together. This hands-on program is a great option when you want to encourage collaboration and strengthen the bonds between team members.
The third program is a certification training where your team can go through interactive training sessions tailored around specific subjects, like respect in the workplace, mental health foundations, psychological safety, and mental health foundation for leaders.
4. Hosting virtual team building using Confetti
Virtual team building is crucial in the modern remote and hybrid work environment. But replicating the interactive, fun-filled nature of in-person team-building activities virtually can be challenging.
Still, some platforms like Confetti are helping organisations host entertaining virtual team-building events.
The platform offers games such as Escape Quest, Coworker Clash, Trivia, Codeword, and Charades. Most of these games are based on popular in-person activities. For example, Escape Quest combines the elements of a classic escape room and scavenger hunt.
In closing
There is a direct connection between employee well-being and their output. Anxiety, stress, and depression affect employees’ performance. It can also lead to absenteeism and high turnover rates.
On the other hand, a workforce that is physically and mentally healthy performs much better. And that has a direct impact on a company’s bottom line.
It’s time to invest in your employees’ well-being. Go through the four strategies we’ve covered above and identify the ones that will work best with your unique workforce. Feel free to engage your employees and get their opinions on what they believe would work best. After all, it’s all about them. Good luck.
